Introduction to Cyber-Warfare - Proiect SEMPER FIDELIS

122 7. WHY CYBER ESPIONAGE IS A KEY COMPONENT OF CHINESE STRATEGYThese attacks largely consisted of DoS and Web site defacement. Open source literature, suchas the previously mentioned Northrop Grumman report, indicates that the government of thePRC was not involved with these attacks—hence, they can be considered as hacktivism—asdiscussed in previous chapters. Though not directly involved, the Chinese government’s reactionto the attacks was initially encouraging—even publically lauding the efforts of thehackers. However, by 2002, this sentiment changed significantly—the PRC started to takea firm stance against freelance hacking of foreign systems. Perhaps, the watershed eventwas the PRC’s reaction to large-scale DoS against the White House. The PRC responded tothis attack according to the “Honker Union of China” by labeling the assault as “Web terrorism”and “unforgivable acts of violating the law” published in the official newspaper of theCommunist Party. 18 With a few notable exceptions, such as an attempted DDoS against CNN,the activities of freelance Chinese hacker groups waned toward the later part of the firstdecade of the twenty-first century. The PRC further looked to cement their position on suchactivities with a national antihacking law in early 2009—which was followed by a series ofhigh-profile arrests of prominent hackers (Figure 7.2).Why did the PRC seem to shift their policy on hacking groups? Perhaps, as the power ofcyber weaponry became more prevalent, the PRC sought to limit the proliferation of such capability.For instance, some military thinkers within the PLA expressed concern over membersof cyber militias improperly using hacker tools. 19 Further, it also appears as thoughhacktivism, in general, is incompatible with INEW. There are three main aspects of this strategythat run counter to the notions of hacktivism: command and control (C2), precisionFIGURE 7.2 The front of the “Great Hall of People” in Tiananmen Square, Beijing. The Beijing government initiallylauded the efforts of independent hacker groups in the late 1990s but in the early 2000s the government’s attitudeshifted, likely as such groups were operating outside of government control. This sentiment led to theenactment of antihacking laws starting in 2009. CIA World Fact Book photo.